While rumors of a touchscreen BlackBerry are nothing new -- and hey, we've even got ourselves a patent to go on nowadays -- it's still encouraging to hear promising hints from the likes of RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie. When asked if RIM would release a touchscreen version of the BlackBerry, Balsillie sounded optimistic. "For sure we're looking at all kinds of different device packaging and presentation," he said. "I think getting religious on packaging is not the way to go, it's really user preference-oriented." Whether that means we'll be seeing an iPhone look-alike, or something completely different in the near future is yet to be seen, but at least we do have word that HSDPA is showing up in a BlackBerry near you before long: "Certainly going to HSDPA is something that's very important to us in the near term," said Balsillie.

His Steveness has been served, courtesy of RIM CEO Jim Balsille. The BlackBerry chief has stated that Apple's apparent stinginess in taking every bit of credit for everything iPhone is horning in on AT&T's part in the whole affair. For some reason, Mr. Balsillie seems a bit miffed that the iPhone is free of AT&T's logo and that it has to be activated using Apple's iTunes software. Balsillie added that Apple's "tremendous amount of control" gives him pause as he thinks about how the shifting of control outside the carrier somehow commoditizes the iPhone. We're still waiting on an unsubsidized 8300, okay Jim?

[Image via hamiltonspectator.com]

RIM's doing just fine thanks to a host of new models, but the same can't be said for its embattled CEO. First he loses his bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, then he loses his chairmanship -- but things might just be turning around for Jim Balsillie. Word on the street is that Nashiville Predators owner Craig Leipold has turned the keys to the club over to Balsillie with an official announcement scheduled for tomorrow. Though there's a guarantee in place that the Predators will stick around for the next season, RIM's hometown has been pining after an NHL franchise for some time. Could this be the Predators' swan song in Nashville? Will the state of Tennessee write off BlackBerrys as evil devices for ever and ever? Only time'll tell.

[Thanks, Boy Genius]

With stock option grants by many public companies sitting under the microscope of authorities these days, count RIM inside that select group. The company who made thumb-able email popular and en vogue has another fan looking into the culpability of stock-based accounting practices: the U.S. Attorney's office. RIM has "had contact with the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York upon learning that the U.S. Attorney's office is reviewing the company's stock option grants," based on company statements. Add this to the SEC's official investigation revealed just recently and RIM's more under the microscope than a high-school biology experiment. So far, company co-founder Jim Balsillie has stepped down from the company's board of directors but is retaining his co-CEO title at this time.

It looks like RIM co-founder Jim Balsille is out as the company's chairman of the board, although he will remain on with RIM as co-CEO. The crackberry BlackBerry maker has had a little of a black eye recently (like many tech companies) with its handling of stock option accounting, which dates all the way back to 2004. As a result, RIM will have to lower its earnings by what seems like a nice chunk of change -- $250 million. Although we don't think RIM is going anywhere fast, its recent public missteps like this one have added to a long list of woes in recent years. Just promise us, RIM, that this isn't going to affect the release schedule for the 8820, mkay?

What's a surefire sign that your company has survived scandal, moving on to become one of the predominant players in wireless communications, enterprise messaging, and hot phones with trackballs? Your CEO buys a sports franchise, that's what. In what can only be described as a proudly Canadian thing to do, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM CEO Jim Balsillie recently scooped up the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins for a cool $175 million from previous owner Mario Lemieux and pals. Though Balsillie and the NHL sound committed to keeping the team in Pittsburgh, it seems fitting that Hamilton, Ontario -- not too far from RIM's Waterloo -- is in search of an NHL franchise itself. We'll try not to get too wrapped up in the conspiracy theories, though; Balsillie's folks back at the RIM camp make enough on-topic news without us branching into the wide world of sports.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]